Protests against work reform increase in Spain

Spanish workers continue to protest against the austerity policy announced by the Rajoy government on Wednesday 18th July 2012. After the ‘black’ march by coal miners from all over Spain arrived in Madrid, thousands of people have gathered in the streets of the largest Spanish cities to express their disapproval.

Police officers, firemen and public sector workers joined the miners in a large public demonstration called by the unions on Thursday 19th July 2012 to protest against the 65 billion Euros cuts announced by Prime Minister Rajoy. Eighty cities across Spain saw demonstrations and gatherings of protesting workers.
This is the fifth day of demonstrations by public sector workers against the government. They are protesting against cuts to their salary, annual leave and their entitlement to days off. The salaries of public workers were cut by a 5% in 2010 and the new policy will decrease them by a further 6.8%. The rate of VAT has also been increased from 18% to 21%.

The Unions say that this is only one of the industrial actions that will occur in the biggest Spanish cities throughout the whole summer and severe travel disruption is expected.

A taxi drivers’ strike has been confirmed in Spain for Wednesday 1 August 2012, with taxi services likely to be affected at airports, ports and city centres across the country. On-going strikes by Iberia pilots every Monday and Friday until the end of July 2012 are also causing disruption to air travellers.

We recommend that you always check the status of your flight with your airline before leaving for the airport. Iberia can be contacted by telephone by calling 902100988 from Spain or 0 870 609 0500 (Spanish and English) from the UK.

We recommend that you always check the status of your flight with your airline before leaving for the airport. Iberia can be contacted by telephone by calling 902100988 from Spain or 0 870 609 0500 (Spanish and English) from the UK.